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Monday, 11 August 2014

Drunk Dad - Ripper Killer (Album Review)

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 1/7/2014

Label: Eolian Empire

‘Ripper Killer Vinyl/DD track listing:

1). Five Pack

2). Life's Work

3). Fuck in Garbage

4). Light a Fire

5). S.O.U.

6). Ripper Killer

7). Worthless

8). Whiskey Liver

Bio:

Portland's one and only fuck-you-all-wave
group, is on a seemingly unstoppable trajectory. In the last two years they
have hard-won the turned heads and knowing nods of enthusiastic youngsters and
old cynics alike with their all-out assaults on rock and convention. Their
art-fucked sludgy hardcore free-jazz noise rock is as unclassifiable as it is
enthralling, the splendid result of a rare new band that not only knows what it
wants but how to get it.

Hatched at long disintegrating Portland punk house/venue Failhaus in 2010 -- at
first an almost homage, albeit a convincing one, to their Northwest heavy
heroes -- DRUNK DAD quickly
shoved their own way forward, dragging their dirty NW rock roots through sludge
and noise and then mashing them together with metallic hardcore and avant
diversions to form their own crusty scuzzcore. Their leavings, including a
cassette-only Failhaus EP on
Stankhouse Records and subsequent Morbid
Reality 7" on Eolian Empire, have raked in accolades from all
levels of media, as a “strategy of fomented eclecticism -- push each influence
hard enough, and they’ll eventually crumble into one another” by Pitchfork,
“brilliantly energetic” by Echoes and Dust, “a pretzel-like intersection of
genre super-highways that go in all directions at once” by the Portland
Mercury, and “an off-kilter, barely-tethered mass of
sludge/crust/whateverthefuck that is as delightful as it is shoeless n'
shambling” by Last Rites.

Not known for going easy, in the past year DRUNK DAD went at it even harder, culminating in their first
full-length and gnarliest, most inventive, expansive, and—dare we
say?—sophisticated record yet. With their first LP Ripper Killer, DRUNK DAD
breaks down the stifling genre walls of yore and rewires the wreckage into a
megaheavy alloy of scuzz, filth, and noise in a knock-down, drag-out war of ill
will wrapped in a nasty bow. The album includes heavy collaborations with local
Eolian harsh noise artist, REDNECK,
who contributes to the entire album and even bears his own track,
"Worthless."

The Band:

Dane Herrin | guitar, vocals

Jose De Lara | Guitar

Anthony Ritchey | Bass

Joseph Naylor | Drums

Review:

About a year ago, I got to review an EP that was pure
audio filth. Seriously, I felt as though
I had to check my speakers to see if some kind of weird ooze hadn’t slithered
out from them as a result of my playing that crazed sound. That EP was ‘Morbid Reality’ by Portland
filth mongers Drunk Dad, and now they’re back with their belts unlooped from
their pants and wrapped around their hands, ready to tan the hides of the
listening public with ‘Ripper Killer’, their brand-new full-length album.

And what an album it is. Taking off from where ‘Morbid Reality’
stopped, ‘Ripper Killer’ is every bit as nihilistic, antagonistic, and
downright filthy as the debut, but with an added crust of depraved anger. These guys have dredged the murkiest, most
haunted musical swamplands and returned with a twisted grin and a tale to
tell. If you like your hardcore punk
mixed with a Mike IX 90s drug cocktail and a spoonful of fuck you, Drunk Dad
are the band for you.

By the looks of things, Drunk Dad have set about
making themselves into the most radio unfriendly unit you have ever heard, and
for that I salute them. They are an
avatar of counter-culture credo, a big middle finger in the air and pointed
directly at the mass-marketed, pasteurised and fully-skimmed horseshit that is
popular music these days. Have you ever
felt angry about the musical trends of today?
Drunk Dad have- check out ‘Fuck In Garbage’ and see how angry real
people can get. To my ears, it sounds
like Nirvana’s ‘Scentless Apprentice’ spliced with Conan’s ‘Total Conquest’, a
vile and terrifying mix indeed.

Could there be a harder, rawer album this year than
‘Ripper Killer’? I doubt it. The titular track on the album is a
hate-filled, near-eight minutes of rolling drums, volcanic vocals and guitars
that saw like a rusty knife against your spine.
It is loud, and when it slinks into subdued sections, they seem to speak
more loudly than any late night back alley scream in the unknown dark. Dare you step into the dark and find out from
where that noise emanated? If you do,
filth and fury await, I guarantee it.

‘Ripper Killer’ is Drunk Dad showing the world at
large how dark things can get. This
album is a testament to raw feelings, brute reactions and extreme honesty. Drunk Dad got ripped- I suggest you grow a
pair and do the same, too.

Band Submissions

To those bands who have recently issued their first demo or album via bandcamp and would like to be featured on our 666 Pack Review or considered for a full review or stream please contact Aaron via email including your EPK, band bio, album file or download code, including artwork.

To those bands issuing their sophomore record and so on and would like to be considered for a review or stream on the blog. Get in touch using the same address above

We will consider bands from any genre but exclusively stoner, sludge, doom, psych, post-metal, experimental, black-metal etc. (Whilst I would like to respond to every email, this is not always possible.) Thanks